Ravinia 2022, Issue 6

Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Music Discovery Program Working to support teachers and students across Chicago and Lake County, Ravinia is partnered with more than 225 schools and communities in the region between all of Reach Teach Play’s initiatives. Providing guest teaching artists to work in the schools is the foundation of several programs, and the musicians take on a variety of roles. Some of them focus on gifted students, becoming mentors and leading master classes in jazz or classical music. Others belong to chamber ensembles that bring a unique performance to many schools. But some of the musicians devote their time to one Chicago elementary school. Working over a three-year period in a school that otherwise has no music program, these artists spend an hour every week in each kindergarten through third-grade classroom. This is the essence of Reach Teach Play’s Music Discovery Program: the teaching artists open the children’s ears and eyes to a world of music they might otherwise never encounter. The effect is transformative, according to Heather Smith-Vanduan, a teacher at Washington Irving Elementary School in the Tri-Taylor neighborhood on Chicago’s near southwest side. Ravinia has partnered with the school since 2009. Smith-Vanduan first encountered Ravinia’s visiting artists while working at Irving as a teacher’s assistant and then as a third-grade teacher. “We had some wonderful artists from Ravinia,” she said. “All of them were fantastic. But this one artist, Matt Lewis, he was really like a rock star when he walked in the door. The kids would scream,” she added with a laugh. “He would walk in playing his guitar, and we would get started right away. It was like the sun walked in. The kids would just light up. The energy in the room was palpable. “The kids would just be jumping and dancing; they would follow his every move. I mean, every move. They would get into deeper concepts of music [like rhythm and harmony] without the kids realizing how deep this stuff was. They were just enjoying and loving it. We would sing Stevie Wonder, Louis Armstrong, [Peter Ilyich] Tchaikovsky. They were being filled with joy.” As so often happens with arts programs, the music classes helped some students blossom. “These kids would come alive,” said Smith- Vanduan. “Music teaches so many things. It teaches cooperation, problem solving, fine motor skills, self-discipline, stress management. Some of the toughest kids in my school come and play the marimba and the xylophone, and they rock it. That’s where they come to get themselves together.” Encountering Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play programs prompted Smith-Vanduan to become a certified music teacher. “I learned so much from Matt Lewis,” she said. “It kind of ignited the spark, about the power of music.” Knowing her background, successive principals at Irving asked Smith-Vanduan to become the school’s music teacher. But the prospect was “scary,” she said, and she repeatedly declined. But one day in 2019, a group of her former third-graders, now in seventh and eighth grades, staged a kind of intervention. An hour later Irving’s newest principal asked her to become the school’s music teacher. That time, she agreed. PLAY Programs that encourage students to PLAY instruments, develop their talents, and deepen their connection to music Sistema Ravinia orchestra students from Lake County and Chicago, including the newest program based in Lawndale, participate in workshops with Ravinia artists such as Marin Alsop, flutist Sir James Galway, violinist Ray Chen, and conductors Gustavo Dudamel (above) and Rafael Payare, who are themselves former students of El Sistema. Sistema Ravinia Inspired by the El Sistema music education model, which emphasizes both community building and musical excellence, orchestral training for 3rd–8th grade students fosters social development and creates pathways for continued success. Ravinia Chief Conductor Marin Alsop leads a Sistema Ravinia orchestra workshop in the Martin Theatre. Learning to play the bass, sight read, and conduct, our daughter has also learned to be more disciplined and focused, and it shows in her school life. I believe the orchestra program has played a major part in shaping who she is becoming: a phenomenal young woman, a scholar, and a very talented musician. — Sistema Ravinia orchestra parent Jazz Mentor Program Talented Chicago high school students who have a passion for jazz are mentored by an ensemble of the city’s finest musicians in the field, deepening their skills for performances, future professional studies, and music careers. Ravinia Lawndale Family Music School Through a partnership between Ravinia and Chicago’s North Lawndale community, rooted in mutual love for music, tuition-free programs provide opportunities for cultural enrichment and access to the arts for Lawndale’s children, adults, and families. –Adapted from “In Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play Programs, It’s Never Been Clearer that Music Matters,” by Wynne Delacoma, Ravinia Magazine 2021 RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 77